Little Stars Preschool - September 2016

Today, I hosted Julia's preschool class at our home.  We learned all about the letter A, the number 1, the color red, and about circles.  We started class by reading a couple of stories.  Then we sang the "Days of the Week" song, talked about the weather, and about calendars.  Then, we went downstairs to watch a church video about Adam and Eve and to play, "Follow the Leader."  Following that, we built castles out of Mega Blocks, making sure that some of the blocks we used were red.  After snack time, we colored in the circles, the As, and #1s that we found on butcher paper that I spread out on our kitchen table.  We ended our class today outside, where we jumped on the trampoline and had ramp races (rolling a ball down the ramp).  The kids were very well behaved and we all had a great time.

Julia's First day of Preschool

Today was Julia's first day of preschool.  She wore her current favorite shirt (long sleeved purple shirt with pink hearts) a pink skirt, and her pink crocs.  Oh, and she insisted on wearing Mommy's oversized red bead necklace.  We held hands as we crossed the street together to Ethan's house.  One of the activities we did there was to draw pictures of our favorite things.  Julia's responses surprised me.  She said her favorite toys are princesses, favorite food are mushrooms, favorite person is herself, favorite animal is a tiger.

Update on Katie's Broken Leg

Katie still has her pink cast on her leg.  She loves getting spoiled and is actually pretty happy and acts like her broken leg is like no big deal.  We carry her from room to room around the house.  Last week she had a two week check up on her leg and it is healing nicely.  They even trimmed her cast down to just below her knee.  It was a pretty traumatic experience for Katie.  Glad that's over.

Pink grapefruit for her breakfast in Mommy & Daddy's bed.

Breakfast in Mommy & Daddy's bed while wearing 3 shades of pink from head to toe...every 3 year old girl's dream come true!  She totally spilled grapefruit juice all over herself right after I took this picture.

This is how Katie has been getting on and off the bus for preschool.  I'm glad she still fits in that umbrella stroller… just barely!  They lift Katie up on to the bus like the picture shows, take her out of her stroller, carry her to her seat, and strap her into the built in carseat.  Talk about service!  I owe the bus driver, Neil and the bus monitor, Valerie a gift or two.  Same with Katie's preschool teacher, Kaydee Machmon.  She deserves a treat too!  Miss Kaydee puts Katie in a wheeled rifton chair to get her around the classroom.

And when the weather holds up and we have a few minutes, we've been taking Katie on walks in our neighborhood.  Katie should be able to get her cast off on December 4th and then she'll have to wear a black walking boot around her leg for about 4 weeks.  I hope Katie's recovery goes smoothly.  So far, so good!

Back to School 2013

Last breakfast of summer break #cinnamondonutsandapplejuice

#surprisepartywithpresents

#firstdayofkindergarten

Pencils and a box of tissues to share with his classmates #firstdayofkindergarten

Brian is in 3rd grade.

#nofearstartingoutthenewyear #lovedhisbacktoschoolbreakfast #sogladhecantiehisshoes

My sister, Amy gave us this bench years ago. The kids love sitting out there eating their snacks.

#happyboys #gladmykidsreallylikeschool

Tyler is in afternoon kindergarten.

#cutestkindergartner #insistedonwearinghisninjagoshirt #soexcitedforschool

Tyler wanted to walk ahead of us as we brought him to his first day of kindergarten.

What a brave kid!

Hanging up backpacks

Waiting in line to wash hands 

Monkey see, monkey do #katiethinksitisherclasstoo

Katie attends preschool 3 days a week in the afternoon.

Preschooler #wouldtakeherbabiestoschoolifallowed#stillpottytraining #onlykidwhoridesthebus

Sometimes even MOMS go to school :)#katiesbabieswillmissher

Waiting for the bus #preschool

Getting ready for school

Tippy toes #keepingitreal #excusethemessycounters

My Soon To Be Kindergartner

Tyler will be in Kindergarten in a few short months.  

Tyler is a smart, determined, confident boy who will totally love "real school."

This summer, I want to teach Tyler all about rhyming words, clapping syllables, and recognizing and writing all the capital and lower case letters of the alphabet.  He for sure knows how to write his name!  We sometimes find his name written in marker on walls, important papers, or the fabric seats of our van!  Thank goodness for washable markers!

End of School

Tyler, Katie, and I attended the 2nd grade Talent Show last week.  

Brian sang, "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" in three languages with his class.

You can see him in action.  Brian is on the top right side and he's wearing the striped shirt. 

Starting line of Wildcat Run #raninrain#gobrian

Wildcat Run complete! #top10for2ndgrade #gobrian(andsam)#soproud #ranonemileintherain #9thplacewithatimeof7minutesand45seconds

Best 2nd grade teacher ever! #mrscouchisretiring #gladbriangottobeinherclass

Brian's gift from Mrs. Couch 

#yougottakeepreadingeveninthesummer

Trampoline fun with neighbor boys #matchingshirts

#lastdayoflittleaggiespreschool #katielovesschool 

#misskathyisawesome #missingsuzannewhowasinameeting

This party brought to you by #14kids #redboxmovie #4bagsofpopcorn 

#trampoline #swingset #sweetbubblemachine

Tyler's Preschool Graduation 2013

Yesterday Tyler graduated from Discovery Academy Preschool!  He has loved preschool this year and has especially liked having Brody and Gracee (twins in our neighborhood) in class with him.  Brody and Gracee's mom, Mindy and I took turns driving our kiddos the 15 minutes to preschool twice a week.  We are SO PROUD of our graduate and are super excited for Tyler to move up to Kindergarten this fall.  (Tyler didn't talk much about what he did in preschool most days.  I'm super impressed with all these songs I had no clue that he knew!  It was fun to see Tyler participate with his classmates.)

Teacher Kareen and Tyler

Art is Fun

This school year, Brian begged me to teach art again in his classroom.  How could I say no?!  (Secretively, I had fun teaching art last year and really wanted to teach again.)  The art lessons are the same as last year, but I can see the improvement in Brian's work as he gets older.  The project shown below is my favorite one that we've done so far:

Brian's a funny kid.  He always gathers his things before all the other kids and helps me take the art supplies back to the art closet.  Then once we exit the school, he holds my hand and we run to the van and we attempt to be the first ones to leave the school parking lot.  That's happened a total off two times so far.  Then, we always stop in somewhere for an after school snack.  We usually end up at Macey's grocery store to get ice cream, but last week, we decided on Jamba Juice.  Razzmatazz is one of our favorite flavors.   Mmmm!

Tyler, Katie, and I had an art day at our house last week.  Tyler is in the stage where he likes to cut up paper into a million tiny pieces.  So I let him go to town doing that and then we glued those pieces on to a larger piece of paper.  

The kiddos also did a little water coloring.  Katie needed my help a little bit because she kept trying to eat the paint.  She'll get the hang of it eventually if we keep practicing.

Discovery Academy Preschool

Gracee, Tyler, Brody

This is Tyler's last year of preschool.  He's been in Gracee and Brody's class every year.  This school year, we decided to sign Tyler up to be in the same class his friends.  Since the preschool is a good 15-20 minute drive from our house, my friend, Mindy and I take turns carpooling.  This has worked out really nicely.  Tyler is really enjoying preschool this year.  He doesn't talk much about what he does in class, but since he asks every morning if it's a school day, I know that he just loves school.  Katie and I get to have girl time while Tyler's in preschool.  Sometimes, Katie and I go shopping, sometimes we go visit some friends that live close to the school, and sometimes, we just go for a nice walk and take pictures.

Anyway, here are some fun things that Tyler's been learning in preschool.

Special song:
I am special, I am special
If you look, you will see
Someone very special, someone very special
It is me, it is me!
Look who's special, look who's special.
It it her, you, or me?
No it's all of us you see!
We're all so special as can be!

Halloween Rhyme: Five Little Pumpkins
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate
The first one said, "Oh my it's getting late."
The second one said, "There are witches in the air."
The third one said, "We don't care."
The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run."
The fifth one said, "I'm ready for some fun."
The whoosh went the wind and out went the lights
and the the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Song: Leaves are Falling (tune- Jingle Bells)
Leaves are falling, leaves are falling
One fell on my nose!
Leaves are falling, leaves are falling
One fell on my toes!
Leaves are falling, leaves are falling
One fell on my head!
Leaves are falling, leaves are falling
Yellow, orange, and red!

Song: Hello Mr. Turkey (tune- If You're Happy and You Know It)
Hello Mr. Turkey, how are you? (clap, clap)
Hello Mr. Turkey, how are you? (clap, clap)
With a wobble, wobble, wobble
And a gobble, gobble, gobble
Hello Mr. Turkey, how are you? (clap, clap)

School Days

We have a second grader in our house.  Brian loves school!  He gives me a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek when I drop him off in the morning.  Then he runs into school.  This kid has a thirst for knowledge.  According to our friends, Brian got THE BEST teacher!  
This quote is on his teacher's blog:

"Those who love teaching, help others love learning."

Love that!

We're excited for Brian and all that he will learn this year. 

And here's our preschooler:

Our boys love to learn!

Family Video - Take 11

New Project 18 from Lisa Ward on Vimeo.

The End of 1st Grade

Brian ran the 1 mile Fun Run with his daddy last week.  They did awesome and ran the whole time.

What's that you say?

School is out!

Hip Hip Hooray!

Joy School 2012 Graduation

Tonight we hosted the Joy School Graduation at our house. 

There were 6 graduates, one of which will start Kindergarten in the fall. 

Tyler received his diploma along with the Most Improved Student Award.

Here's the cute slideshow that I put together. Enjoy!